England won the toss and batted first, reaching 172-8 from their 20 overs, with James Vince top scoring with a sprightly 38 from 24 balls, while Jos Buttler (33) and opener Jason Roy (29) also contributed.
Australia romped into the semi-finals of the cricket World Cup, trouncing Pakistan by six wickets in the third quarter-final at the Adelaide Oval on Friday. They will meet defending champions India, who beat Bangladesh, in the second semi-final slated for March 26.
Following reports of three senior Pakistan players misbehaving with fielding coach Grant Luden, it is learned that opener Ahmed Shehzad may be sent home from the World Cup.
Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, on Monday, criticised the national selectors for resting six senior players, including skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, for the upcoming ODI series against Australia, saying a good outing would have boosted their confidence ahead of the World Cup.
Pakistan on Thursday said it has asked India to provide "additional evidence" for the early completion of the Mumbai attack trial in which Lashkar-e-Tayiba operations commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi and six others are accused.
Afridi, a former Pakistan captain, said his country's drab show took away all the excitement from what was expected to be a high-voltage Group B encounter.
Pakistan Twenty20 skipper Shahid Afridi does not seem to be in favour of tainted cricketer Salman Butt making a comeback to the national team. A source in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) told PTI that Butt, who completed a five-year ban for spot-fixing last September, was in contention for an immediate comeback to international cricket but Afridi showed his reluctance. "Butt met with chief selector Haroon Rasheed last night in Lahore. The situation is that members of the Pakistan team have also indicated they have no problems with Butt joining the team but Afridi is not in favour of his inclusion," the source said. The source also said that the selectors were considering opener Butt for the World T20 after the team's dismal batting performance in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh. "The selectors are desperate to find a solution to the opening problem in the Pakistan team and will also certainly recall experienced opener Ahmed Shehzad. Salman Butt is also under consideration," the source said.
Images from Pakistan's 129-run victory over the UAE in Wednesday's World Cup Group B match in Napier.
Jolted by the shock loss to New Zealand in the opening game, India will be fighting a survival battle quite early in the tournament when they take on arch foes Pakistan in what is being seen as the marquee clash of the ICC World Twenty20 in Kolkata on Saturday. The hosts, who started clear title-favourites, were in for a blow in the first match itself when New Zealand's spinners bamboozled their famed batting line-up on a turning Nagpur track. As a result, the world No.1 side is staring at an early elimination should it lose to Pakistan in the high-voltage game at the Eden Gardens. As is the case with most India-Pakistan contests, this game too has been preceded by its share of drama. The match was originally scheduled to be held in Dharamsala but was shifted here after the Himachal Pradesh government expressed inability to provide security to the Pakistan team owing to protests by ex-servicemen and their families.
World cricket's most intriguing rivalry will once again be renewed when India take on an unpredictable Pakistan with rehabilitated pacer Mohammad Aamir being the focus of attention in a round-robin league encounter of the Asia Cup T20 tournament, in Mirpur, on Saturday.
After a dream ODI debut last month, teenaged paceman Mustafizur Rahman announced his Test arrival by claiming three wickets in four balls as Bangladesh bowled out South Africa for 248 on the opening day of the first Test in Chittagong on Tuesday.
China has blocked India's move in the UN demanding action against Pakistan over the release of Mumbai attack mastermind and LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi in violation of a resolution of the world body as it contended that India provided insufficient information.
India on Friday summoned Pakistan's deputy high commissioner and lodged a strong protest against the adjournment of the ongoing Mumbai terror attack case trial in Pakistan.
An ATC Judge on Wednesday heard the Mumbai attack case and accepted a request filed by the Federal Investigation Agency to inspect the boat 'Alfoz' in Karachi.
England captain Eoin Morgan hit the winning run as the tourists secured their first T20 whitewash with a thrilling super-over win against Pakistan in the third match of the series in Sharjah on Monday.
'Given the past practice in the Pakistan army, this delay is most unusual,' notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
Flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi earned Pakistan a three-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the first Twenty20 international at Dubai stadium on Wednesday.
Mir was allegedly involved in the killing of former sarpanch Fayaz Ahmad of Kakapora in March.
Lawyers in UP went on flash strike to voice outrage over the killing of an advocate
Pakistan has the tag of unpredictably that follows them at the start of every tournament. So when Pakistan faced Australia, many expected the latter to steamroll them considering two facts.
Former captain Wasim Akram led Pakistan's cricket community in lambasting the team for "going down without a fight" against arch-rivals India.
Pakistan's wily spinners gave a masterclass in slow bowling to bamboozle South Africa's batting line-up and lead their side to a 66-run victory in the second one-day international in the United Arab Emirates on Friday.
The World Cup bound Pakistani cricketers will have two counselling sessions with a well-known sports psychologist before leaving for the World Cup.
Two soldiers were injured in the initial firing, an army official said, adding that the cordon has been strengthened.
Pakistan government on Friday sought the early hearing of LeT operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi's case in the supreme court, a day after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind was remanded to 14-day judicial custody for the abduction of an Afghan national.
A delegation of the Progressive Party of Maldives led by its presidential candidate, Abdulla Yamin Abdul Gayoom called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday.
A PCB official said the suspended off-spinner has been named in the preliminary squad as he was in the process of correcting his action and would soon appear for an ICC biomechanics test.
Eight teams have formed some of the best combinations from a pool of 64 top cricketers in the players' draft for T10League -- the limited ten-over format cricket -- that will be played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Bangladesh outplayed Pakistan by 79 runs in the first one-day international in Dhaka on Friday, in only their second win over their rivals in 48 games across all three formats.
The five-member team will be given a detailed presentation before they visit the attack site on Tuesday.
A Pakistani company had sold eight Japanese Yamaha engines to one of the 2008 Mumbai attack facilitators who supplied them to terrorists.
In a fresh setback to the Mumbai attack trial, a Pakistani court has dismissed the government's petition seeking voices samples of 26/11 mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects in the case.
The probe agency said the 12,794-page chargesheet has been filed against 12 persons including Hafiz Saeed, the head of banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen head Syed Salahuddin for conspiring to wage war against the government (Section 121 of Indian Penal Code) by carrying out terrorist and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.
The US has said it shared 'credible evidence' with Pak on LeT commander Lakhvi's involvement Mumbai attack
Pakistan on Monday termed as "irrational" India's strong reaction to a court's ruling ordering release of 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, but hoped that the issue will not affect the proposed bilateral talks.
India on Friday blamed Pakistan for an Islamabad court ordering release of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, saying Islamabad did not produce the evidence against him despite having enough of it.
The United States and the United Kingdom have asked Pakistan to hand over Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack, to India to improve bilateral ties or to them for his 'independent trial'.
The team's movement would be restricted only to the area of the engagement between security forces and the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists.
One of the alleged lashkar-e-Tayiba trainers involved in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks used to frequently get money transfers into his account, two Pakistani bank executives told an anti-terrorism court on Wednesday.
Sohaib Maqsood and Fawad Alam struck quick-fire fifties and combined in a record 147-run sixth wicket stand as Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by four wickets with one ball remaining in the first one-day international at Hambantota on Saturday.
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